The October MER Shows Destruction in Delve and Mineral Prices at an All Time High

CCP got the Monthly Economic Report for October out yesterday, which I was looking forward to because October saw a lot of action I figured might impact the numbers.

EVE Online nerds harder

I am going to start with the big numbers, leading with destruction.

September saw 33.6 trillion in destruction.  That number got bumped to 45 trillion ISK, with Delve coming out way in front of the pack.

1. Delve – 10.89 trillion (Imperium)
2. Lonetrek – 2.24 trillion (High Sec)
3. The Citadel – 2.06 trillion (High Sec)
4. The Forge – 2.05 trillion (High Sec)
5. Sinq Laison – 1.51 trillion (High Sec)
6. Querious – 1.34 trillion (Imperium)
7. Pochven – 1.18 trillion (Triglavian)
8. Oasa – 1.12 trillion (PandaFam)
9. Metropolis – 1.12 trillion (High Sec)
10. Domain – 920 billion (High Sec)

Last months number one, Querious saw 2.71 trillion in destruction as World War Bee played out in the region.  While there were some big clashes, they were nothing compared to the battles in NPC Delve in early October.

NPC Delve stands out on the map

My own posts about those battles:

• A Tale of Two Keepstars in FWST-8
• A Costly Imperium Victory at FWST-8
• Another PAPI Keepstar Destroyed in Delve
• The Failed Trap at YZ9-F6
• The Imperium Destroys Another PAPI Keepstar in 319-3D

That series of titanic clashes ended when the invaders bubble wrapped their fifth Keepstar drop, but by then many trillions of ISK had been blown up.  There was a bit of relief on both sides with that as those fights took a toll in both ISK and personal fortitude.

Besides the spike in Delve, much of the chart looks about on par for normal.  High sec around trade hubs tends to see lots of destruction.  Of interest is the new region of Pochven, which came in with the October update.  I guess the Triglavians were busy cleaning house.

And then there is Oasa, the crab capital of New Eden now, where some players rat and mine 23.5 hours a day.  I admire their almost robotic stamina, but somebody has been hunting them it seems.  There isn’t anything else going on in that space.

The other big number comes on the mining front where the indices chart shows that mineral prices have hit an all time high.

Oct 2020 – Economic Indices – Long Term

Mineral prices are now higher than even the post dronelands fix when minerals were removed from drone NPCs.  So miners must be raking in the loot, right?  Well… September saw a total of 27.3 trillion ISK worth of ore mined in New Eden.  October saw that rise slightly, to 28.68 trillion ISK.  The top ten regions were:

1. The Forge – 1.6 trillion (High Sec)
2. Domain – 1.58 trillion (High Sec)
3. Metropolis – 1.5 trillion (High Sec)
4. Sinq Laison – 1.45 trillion (High Sec)
5. Oasa – 1.16 trillion (PandaFam)
6. Lonetrek – 1.14 trillion (High Sec)
7. The Citadel – 1.01 trillion (High Sec)
8. Tash-Murkon – 978 billion (High Sec)
9. Everyshore – 831 billion (High Sec)
10. Derelik – 793 billion (High Sec)

Why no overall boost or spike in region totals?  Because the same October update that brought the Pochven region also landed a severe blow with the nerf bat on mineral yields for ore, stripping minerals from different sectors of space.  If the prices went up and the totals stayed about the same, that means the yield must have been way off.  The mineral starvation diet continues in New Eden.

Trade values were also up a bit, moving from 600 trillion ISK in September to 658 trillion ISK in October with the top regions being:

1. The Forge – 456 trillion (Jita)
2. Domain – 57.46 trillion (Amarr)
3. Delve – 24.29 trillion (Imperium)
4. Sinq Laison – 21.67 trillion (Dodixie)
5. Lonetrek – 15.48 trillion (Caldari High Sec)
6. Metropolis – 10.21 trillion (Hek)
7. Heimatar – 9.64 trillion (Rens)
8. Essence – 4.91 trillion (Gallente High Sec)
9. The Citadel – 4.53 trillion (Caldari High Sec)
10. Oasa – 4.3 trillion (PandaFam)

The Forge, home to Jita and the Tranquility Trading Tower in Perimeter, remain far and away the top spot for trade.  Jita, Amarr, and Delve all saw increases in trade, while other regions… and it is the same set of regions in the top ten for both months… were stable or saw slight declines.

Delve, of course, represents the Imperium supplying the war effort.  And Amarr, its short route to Jita now cut by Triglavian space, is rising rather than falling now standing on its own.  We shall see if that trend continues.

Production also reflects the war effort when it comes to the war, with 122.78 trillion ISK in production taking place in October, up from 114.5 trillion ISK the month before.

1. The Forge – 21.55 trillion (High Sec)
2. Delve – 17.31 trillion (Imperium)
3. Lonetrek – 6.86 trillion (High Sec)
4. The Citadel – 6.58 trillion (High Sec)
5. Oasa – 5 trillion (PandaFam)
6. Domain – 4.95 trillion (High Sec)
7. Sinq Laison – 4.88 trillion (High Sec)
8. Esoteria – 3.84 trillion (Legacy)
9. The Kalevala Expanse – 3.60 trillion (PandaFam)
10. Malpais – 3.34 trillion (PandaFam)

The trio of The Forge, The Citadel, and Lonetrek remain the industrial core of the game, feeding the Jita markets, but out in Delve the Imperium was busy building replacements for the many ships expended in NPC Delve.  PandaFam is also making their way in producing out in their space.  Legacy also made the cut in Esoteria, though there is a minor invasion going on in their industrial heartland, with The Initiative joining The Bastion and Ferrata Victrix there.

And, finally, there is the big ISK faucet, NPC bounties.  October will be a benchmark month as CCP set about nerfing this with the November update.

October saw 55.9 trillion ISK in NPC bounties collected, up a bit from the 52.1 trillion ISK taken in the month before.

Oct 2020 – Top Sinks and Faucets Over Time

The top regions were:

1. Oasa – 6.23 trillion (PandaFam)
2. Branch – 4.24 trillion (PandaFam)
3. Cobalt Edge – 3.6 trillion (PandaFam)
4. Perrigen Falls – 2.88 trillion (PandaFam)
5. Vale of the Silent – 2.52 trillion (mixed small groups)
6. The Kalevala Expanse – 2.25 trillion (PandaFam)
7. Insmother – 2.07 trillion (Legacy)
8. Detorid – 1.97 trillion (Legacy)
9. Malpais – 1.83 trillion (PandaFam)
10. Tenal – 1.76 trillion (PandaFam)
11. Delve – 1.73 trillion (Imperium)

As you can see, the attackers in World War Bee are enjoying a good deal of freedom to rat and mine at home.  I tacked Delve on there in 11th place to show that it was still active even with the war having come to the region at last.  Esoteria, which was in the top ten last month, dropped down to 18th place.  I am going to guess that the minor invasion which I mentioned above might be suppressing a bit of ratting.

So it goes.

We will see in the November MER if the nerfs CCP brought have an impact on the NPC bounty numbers.  When we were out in Oasa Fraternity seemed a bit testy about people stealing from their ESS banks.

If you are interested in the charts and the raw data, CCP makes all of that available as a download with the MER dev blog.